Category Archives: Reviews

Book reviews, as well as Reads to Reels

Of Neanderthals and dogs and extinction level events

Posted on July 8, 2018 by smellincoffee

Time for science short rounds! Last week I read The Invaders,  a much-anticipated work about how dogs gave humans a competitive edge over their neanderthal cousins. This brief book posits that human beings function like invasive species, and after establishing … Continue reading →

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How the Post Office Created America

Posted on July 5, 2018 by smellincoffee

How the Post Office Created America:  A History© 2016 Winifred Gallagher336 pages Once the conduit of revolution, then a mainstay of communities both rural and urban, the post office has fallen on rough times as of late.   Amid speculation that … Continue reading →

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How To Watch TV News

Posted on July 3, 2018 by smellincoffee

How to Watch TV New© 1992 Neil Postman, Steve Powers192 pages (2008 edition) Don’t. Well, that was easy.  From television insider Steve Powers and technological critic Neil Postman comes this slim book, How To Watch Television News, which explains how … Continue reading →

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The Art of Invisibility

Posted on June 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Art of Invisibility: The World’s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data© 2017 Kevin Mitnick320 pages So, you want to be invisible online? Great. All you’ll need is three … Continue reading →

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Forgotten Founders

Posted on June 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

America’s Forgotten Founders© 2011 ed. Gary Gregg II185 pages After reading several thoughtful full-length biographies in this series, I expected the same quality in miniature from this collection. That is not the case at all; after a lengthy opening essay … Continue reading →

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Daemon

Posted on June 21, 2018 by smellincoffee

 Daemon© 2006 Daniel Suarez444 pages SO YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION YES NO When a incomparable programming genius known for his immersive games and uncanny AI dies, his greatest creation awakes.  A sophisticated program running in the background begins … Continue reading →

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Fire and Blood

Posted on June 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico  © 1973 T.R. Fehrenbach 675 pages Fire and Blood is an epic history of Mexico, one that begins at the dawn of time and takes its time moving on.  Case in point: the 20th … Continue reading →

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The Switch

Posted on June 19, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Switch© 2017 Joseph Finder384 pages Picture this. You’re a senatorial aide whose boss is technologically illiterate enough to be dangerous. The senator’s MacBook, containing information that was never supposed to leave the Senate offices,  has been inadvertently switched with … Continue reading →

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50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True

Posted on June 18, 2018 by smellincoffee

50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True© 2011 Guy Harrison458 pages “Just because it’s vivid, detailed, and expressed with confidence and emotion…doesn’t mean it’s true.” Chances are you know someone who harbors what you know to be irrational beliefs, … Continue reading →

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Brinkmanship

Posted on June 16, 2018 by smellincoffee

Star Trek Typhon Pact: Brinksmanship © 2012 Una McCormack 352 pages Who’s up for the Cuban Missile Crisis….in spaaaaaaace? When an otherwise friendly nation on the borders of the Federation and two of its allies signs a treaty with a … Continue reading →

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